CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said Monday that voters were not particularly concerned about the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot in the 2024 presidential election. Enten noted that the percentage of American voters who believe President-elect Donald Trump should be ineligible to re-enter office because of the Capitol events dropped from 56% to 47% over the past four years. Additionally, there was a significant shift in public opinion regarding Trump’s responsibility for the events, with the number of Americans who thought he was responsible decreasing from 48% in January 2021 to 37% in December 2023.
“If you go back four years ago, Trump’s role on January 6, 2021 should make him ineligible to be president, the clear majority of voters said yes, 56%, and that was including removal from office,” Enten said. “But of course Donald Trump won the presidency, and part of the reason why was because views on Trump completely shifted, including Trump’s role on January 6, 2021 … by 2023 [and] 2024, it was just 47%.
“So we saw this drop of about 9 points, and that, of course, makes all the difference in the world, going from a majority to short of a majority. And of course, Trump won the vast, vast, vast majority of the other 53% that his role on January 6 would make him ineligible for the presidency,” Enten said. Aside from Americans changing their views on whether Trump was responsible, voters largely stopped focusing on the January 6 riot as the 2024 election approached. By election time, only 5% of Americans and just 2% of Republicans cited the riot as their primary memory of Trump’s first term, The Daily Caller added.
“People, simply put, didn’t care as much about the attack on the Capitol,” Enten continued. “Look at this, ‘January 6th is your biggest memory of Trump’s first term.’ By the time of 2024, look at this. It was just 5%, just 5% of Americans, and among Republicans, it was just 2%. So the bottom line is, fewer Americans faulted Donald Trump, thought he was greatly responsible for the January 6 attack, and more than that, when it went in the rearview mirror, far fewer folks thought that it was their number one memory.”
WATCH:
President Joe Biden’s administration and the legacy media both warned that Trump would pose an existential threat to democracy if he returned to office, largely due to the Capitol riot. Just before the election, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre falsely referred to the riot as evidence that Trump is a “fascist” and a danger to the nation during an October 23 briefing.
